Knausgård writes about Sandøya

I designed the poster above some years back when we had an open day on the island. 

'The good life'- What is it?
For us it is living on Sandøya. The closeness to nature- the sea and the woods, sort of life stripped bare. Life has a slower pace here, yet there are activities and events all year round. We know most people on the island, it is a close knit community, in a good way.
Did you know that Karl Ove Knausgård mentions Sandøya (and the guest house we founded and ran for several years; Maries Gjestehus) in one of his books? That he was  playing with the idea of moving here?
Read here, pages 483-484: My Struggle (Min Kamp)

Julianes italienske brød. Italian bread.

http://from-sandoya-with-love.blogspot.no/2009/10/from-sandoya-with-love-is-up-and.html
Unashamedly one of the best breads tasted, by far one of the easiest bread to make.
Wherever, (almost) I share meals with friends on the island, my bread is being served. Not only that, the bread has been served in weddings, anniversaries, birthdays and gatherings around Norway, as most people who have eaten the bread, has asked for the recipe. That bears testimony of success, I think.
The bread, drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with flaky Maldon salt, and sitting on the every same mixture, is a match made in heaven.
The italian bread receipe, first handed down to me by a Copenhagen friend in New Zealand, modified by me, is often requested, so here it is again:)

Maries Gjestehus

It was a wonderful experience running Maries Gjestehus, and exactly 10 years ago (2004) we bought the old congregation house on Sandøya. It was was in dire need of restoration, and after much hard work, my family, with the aid of a local architect and efficient carpenters, transformed it into Maries Gjestehus. Added features were a brick Tuscany-inspired tower, housing the romantic Vetle Lid Larssen room with a four poster bed and the Arne Næss room with windows in all directions of the sky. We hosted a seminar where he, the late eco philsopher shared his thoughts. I remember sitting next to him in awe, eating homemade bread and feeling happy and privileged.
We also built with a terrace overlooking the lake for the guests to sit and enjoy the sun and good food. The roof, some flooring and all windows were changed, and we solely used environmentally sound paints and oils in the restoration process.

Below you can see the tree house, built by English friends of mine,  a great place for watching bevers in the sunset!
We had a 'Solskinnscafé' o the terrace, serving the islanders and guests homemade soups, cakes and organic tea and coffee. During the weekdays we also had a café based on trust; we made a cake and coffee corner on the terrace, where we put out freshly made cake and coffee, and the guests could serve themselves and put money in a tin.

Maries Gjestehus: seng, brød og bøker, was our foundation, meaning bed, bread and books.
We wanted to inspire people by giving them AUTHENTIC nature experiences, serving homemade bread and fresh and healthy vegetarian food, providing a harmonious living space, sharing literature (we had approximately 400 books located around the house and in the author-named rooms), and naturally by letting them explore the unspoilt island nature.
Our green concept fortunately attracted a lot of national press, and we were featured in Dagbladet, Allers, Lev Landlig, KK, Det Gode Liv, Nationen to mention to but a few, as well as coverage on green travel websites in Britain.
The photos below were taken by Lisbeth Michelsen when she photographed us and the guest house for the Norwegian lifestyle magazine KK. Our daugther Malou Severine, appr. 1,5 yrs old here, my partner Cri and myself outside the outdoor toilet, pimped up with bright paints and fabric.

The interior had a mix of fleamarket finds, redesigned interior and my mother being a rampant collector.., naturally a lot of antique furniture. The old and somewhat uncomfortable benches left behind, were given a lick of paint and some soft cushions. They still do the trick. (The benches were in fact deliberately designed to be uncomfortable, so that you wouldn't fall asleep during service).

Maries Gjestehus housed weddings, workshops, seminars, birthday parties, family holidays and attracted tourists wanting an active or a peaceful holiday. Looking after guests from Bolgona to Bergen, from Phildelphia to Potsdam, we met so many interesting people, and as we lived there ourselves, the experience was so intimate and personal.
Described as a hidden eco treasure, guests were left leaving feeling calm and inspired. We were blessed in the sense as the guests came and wanted peace, the had actively seeked out a place like ours. It therefore was a true pleasure- we were surrounded by grateful people.

It is easy to imagine this as the worlds' best job and it was! However it was also filled with immensly hard work. We worked from early morning to late evening, shopping, cooking, serving, cleaning, picking up and looking after guests, answering emails and phonecalls, admin work, graphic design, marketing... You get the picture.
When you do something you LOVE, it doesn't matter. But after becoming a mother, I started realising I had to take a big step forward developing the place and extend the summer season with courses and other events, or to withdraw...
As we now have two daughters; the youngest, Liva 1. 5 yrs and Malou now 5.5 yrs, the decision was easy. Family first.

Good, homemade food was vital in our concept, and the hope was to enlighten and inspire people to eat more vegetarian food earthy. Photos here are from a ReDesign workshop we did in collaboration with Fretex Redesign, and lunch served was a lentil stew, risotto and italian bread.

The old conregation house at its beginnings, shown in the very last photo here. It was built in 1904 and has also been used for gatherings, christmas festivities, a painters ateliér, amongst manier things. We wrote another chapter, and transformed the grand old lady into a beautiful guest house. One year ago we sold Maries Gjestehus, and now Erik and Nina have started their journey, and given her a new name: La Locanda di Marie. Generous and creative people they are. I wish them luck and look forward to see their adventures!

Most of these photos were taken by myself. Also thanks to Janne Read, Torstein Øen, Siri Rasmussen og Lisbeth Michelsen and Anette Tårneby for their photos of Maries Gjestehus

Added life value

More than five years ago we were celebrating the fact that our island school would remain. Yet, we are still under threat of losing it. 
We want to share island life with other people who may find it attractive, and so last autumn we organised an Open Day where we showcased houses for rent and for sale. There was a market with handicraft businesses from Made on Sandøya as well as a café.
The event proved a success, we gained a lot of media coverage, generating marketing for Sandøya.
We need more inhabitants, and I am certain (and hope) more people will fall in love with the island and make the life changing steps to move here.
In the photo Malou is trying out her bike. She is due to start this year, and she has started riding the bike by herself to school.
For me that is added life value.

Beach combing

What a great way to spend a sunny morning...

Picking rubbish off the beach. We had planned this for a while, 

and the children were really excited to see what treasures the 

winterstorms had left behind.

Coming back we had fun painting and gluing our findings.
'The drumming sand angel', as Malou aptly described it, and a
signpost for her garden house, were the creative and fun outcomes
of our hunt.

Still here...

Manier years have passed and life changing events have happened.
We still do easter egg hunts. This photo is from last years traditional
event in our garden, and soon there`s another to come.
Thanks for stopping by! I look forward to sharing more on island life,
food and creative projects.

A love of food

Many of my fondest memories are food related, and it is one of my favorite ways of socialising.

The act of sitting together around a table, enjoying good food together, is unifying and generally opens up for good conversations.

In the beginning of the millenium, my boyfriend and I had a long distance relationship for years, as we were studying in different cities. He lived in the South West, in Falmouth, and my university was in the seaside town of Brighton, just outside of London.

The train journey was quite long, from 10-12 hours of travelling. And after spending money on the expensive train fare, the meagre student budget was almost eaten up.
However, pretty broke, going out to restaurants and enjoying fine dinners together, was what we always did for our once a month week-end stay together.  We would sit in the restaurant for hours on end, indulging. Once the waiter had to fetch an extra table for all the food we had ordered. (4 mains and a few sides...)
This left us surviving on cheap food until our next time. But so worth it!

The print is a letterpress print I did in my first year at university.